Until A2A come up with their D/E/F series, I'll get started (and hopefully finish before them) the B and C models.
-Standard FSX animations will be implemented, along with a few custom ones (flaps, slats, gear, canopies, hook, launch bar, refuelling probe e.t.c.)
-Carrier capable
-Functional 3D virtual cockpits for pilot and RIO (that is 10000% sure)
-Don't expect any functional RADAR scopes and weapons. I will provide a version with CaptainSim's weapon functionality, though.

Back on track, the intake flaps have taken me all day to make, and I'm not yet sure they're right. The tail area is a pain in the tail too. Hopefully by this weekend I'll have the rough fuselage ready to start adding details.

Remodeled the grills, did some tweaking and exported to FS over Virtavia's Phantom.
There are artifacts, but generally it was a trouble free export. There are things I don't like though, the canopy is about as blocky as the default F/A-18's one. Will fix that later in developement.
Point out anything that looks out of line.

Granting Gary's unreasonable wish:
Before carving gear wells and control surfaces, I'll make the rest of the vents/grills under the aircraft to break it in two models, one for the F-4B, one for the RF-4B.

After spending the past four days trying to figure out why animations don't work, I decided to keep modeling and remodel anything that doesn't work. Luckily, the fuselage hasn't given me problems yet, so I'll remake the wings and engines for sure (didn't like them anyway).
Started detailing the bottom side of the Phantom, but can't find many reference shots of the B model.

Alexis wrote:After spending the past four days trying to figure out why animations don't work, I decided to keep modeling and remodel anything that doesn't work. Luckily, the fuselage hasn't given me problems yet, so I'll remake the wings and engines for sure (didn't like them anyway).

Good news on that front: animations work as they should, wings remade and engines corrected.
I'll do an animation test soon.

Wow....
All these little holes, you make those with boolean cuts right? Doesn't that make a mess on the mesh? I kinda started avoiding booleans since my early days in gmax... I probably have a severe case of OCD in what comes to 3D meshes... Of course that meant texturing details instead of modeling them...

Xpand wrote:Wow....
All these little holes, you make those with boolean cuts right? Doesn't that make a mess on the mesh? I kinda started avoiding booleans since my early days in gmax... I probably have a severe case of OCD in what comes to 3D meshes... Of course that meant texturing details instead of modeling them...

ProBoolean has far fewer problems than Boolean.
Also, using editable polies instead of editable meshes allows you to remove vertices at will, without messing up your geometry or UVW maps at all.
I just carve the hole, "scale" the segments and then bridge them to get my details.

Did some texturing tests and created a normal map.
Also corrected the nozzle collar, the shape of the nozzles, their mapping and animation range. Now they fully close, unlike before. Also the collar moves 7,5cm (3in) out when nozzles are fully opened.
Problems encountered:
-Normal maps are inverted (instead of up are going down)
-The bottom nozzle petal intermediate plate needs some adjustment as it protrudes out of the petals
-The spoilers need better alignment with the wing when deployed.
-I have to figure out the exact flap shape. I just can't get it right.
Anyways, here's the nozzle with normal maps (inverse) and corrected animation.

I've mapped the right half nozzles of each engine separately to get some variation, and the mapping is repeated for the left half.
The two sides look identical, but it is saved from the fact that the tail is hiding the inner side of the engine. Thus, it kind of looks unique.

Bad news: the interior nozzles corrupted my model and no animations worked at all.
Good news: I fixed them and got them in FS for testing. It is smooth as silk:

I also experimented with FSX material properties.
I got a "funky" red-orange-purple-blue specular to appear where the rusty and burned areas are (red arrows). The rest is the classic silvery specular (white arrow).
I've also added a fresnel ramp so that the specular is more intense when the polygon is facing the camera and fading when off-axis.
The normal maps work, but are still inverted (things that should be protruding are indenting e.t.c.) and their mapping is a matter of... discussion.